Things I’m Loving…

Loving a moment of freedom at sundown on Monday, with just my six year old – Sophie, at Lyall Bay.

Hubbie came home a little earlier than his usual 6.30pm to mind Alice and Charlotte (who were happy to stay at home).

We found star-fish and hermit crabs in the rock pools, climbed the rocks with ease (at least Sophie did – I followed with a lot of encouragement) and loved seeing the colours of the sky change as the sun dipped in the sky.

Loving poetry sung to me by Sophie; from ‘The Complete Flower Fairies Collection,’ by Cicely Mary Barker.

My Mum sent the books over years ago. Every page has a beautiful painting of a fairy in nature. There are ‘Flower Fairies‘ of the garden, the trees, the wayside, a flower fairy alphabet and flower fairies of all the seasons. I have them sitting on a shelf in the living room and Sophie plucked them from the shelf and started singing them to me. Alice was asleep at the time and we enjoyed an hour going through our favourite flowers and talking about the seasons everyone in the family was born in (which of course varied depending on if they’d been born in the northern or southern hemisphere).

Loving Sophie singing a poem about ‘The Acorn Fairy’ on Skype to her Granddad for his Autumn Birthday in the UK this Saturday…

‘To English folk the mighty oak
Is England’s noblest tree;
Its hard-grained wood is strong and good
As English hearts can be.
And would you know how oak-trees grow,
The secret may be told:
You do but need to plant for seed
One acorn in the mould;
For even so, long years ago,
Were born the oaks of old.’

Loving the ‘Welcome swallows‘ that I’ve seen flying so elegantly and low in the sky these past few weeks. I’ve never really noticed them before – after all these years of living in New Zealand! I was talking with a friend about them and we decided it was about time we asked the wizard (aka Google) for an answer – and all was revealed…

“Welcome swallows (Hirundo neoxena) are a new addition to New Zealand’s native fauna. Known only as occasional vagrants before the 1950s, they were first noticed breeding near KaitÄia, Northland, in 1958. Since then they have spread throughout the mainland, except for the central South Island mountains. They are also found on the Chatham and Kermadec islands.

The welcome swallow also breeds in Australia and New Caledonia.”

Judging by the number I’ve seen, I’m hopeful of a very fine summer – that’s if the Greek proverb is anything to go by, “one swallow does not a summer make”.

Loving ‘Under the Mountain‘ (by Maurice Gee) with Sophie (only two chapters left to read!).

We spent this Friday morning taking it in turns to read pages at ‘The Chocolate Fish’ cafe (which we affectionately call ‘sunshine school’!). Alice slept the whole time in my arms (after falling asleep in the car at 10am… she had been awake at 4am!). We didn’t leave till close to 1pm.

Loving reminiscing on old holidays on the blog – in the days when I used to write in the imagined voice of my first born daughter in her early years. She is now nine year’s old (yes, I’ve been writing this blog for nine years!) and she’s heading off on her first independent flight tomorrow – to Byron Bay, Australia! Charlotte visited Byron Bay with us when she was just two year’s old (and Sophie was a baby in my tummy!).

Charlotte will be spending the week with her best friend from birth – Inde – who moved there when she was nearly five. The girls have stayed in touch and seen each other every year since, but this is the first time Charlotte will travel solo! She’s so excited and assures me she’s not at all nervous.

Loving having a cuddle with a newborn baby! A friend and her husband have just become the proud parents of a gorgeous baby boy! I took Sophie and Alice along with me and we all had a lovely cuddle with young Rory – just 3 day’s old! Rory has a doting big sister, who is only around 16 months old, so Mum and Dad will be busy – but in a very blessed way x

Loving this photograph of my Dad (far right) with his brothers and sisters, which was taken last weekend at the wedding of my dear cousin, Jane.

Loving seeing the sunshine doctor on Tuesday afternoon, when I was feeling quite blue. We played for an hour with driftwood on the beach, making shelters, driftwood drums, balancing beams and sea-saws. We pretended the driftwood could turn into magical horses that could ride the waves. We finished up with a visit to the Lyall Bay pharmacy (aka ‘Fish n Chip’ shop) for ice-creams and a bag of chips – the perfect medicine for chasing the blues away.